


Mission to Civilise

by EmpressTod



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, BAMF Luna Lovegood, BAMF Minerva McGonagall, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Harry Potter, Good Slytherins, Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts, It's just full of OCs, Nymphadora Tonks Lives, Professor Harry Potter, Professor Neville Longbottom, Professor Percy Weasley, Slytherins, bad gryffindors??, cause it's mine now, look JK in the eye and say 'My Canon Now, muggle borns - Freeform, muggleborn protagonist, protagonist gonna drag em into the 21st century, they're stuck in the dark ages, third person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-04-28 14:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14451348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressTod/pseuds/EmpressTod
Summary: Muggleborn gets put into Slytherin and starts out scared but it quickly gets overshadowed by her utter astonishment at the way things work in Hogwarts.





	1. Intro

**_AU in which a lot of characters are still alive and well and a lot of characters went into careers that actually fit their characters. I’m feeling like this takes place before Cursed Child, even tho i love Scorpius and Al’s romance that was literally the only thing i agreed with in that book. In this AU probably the biggest thing is that Harry never became an Auror because it was time for him to chill out a bit, so he travelled around to different cities, played Quidditch professionally for a while before becoming Professor Potter, the Hot Dad whose glasses are always crooked. Like he SHOULD BE. Honestly does JK not understand her characters at all???_ **

**_Also Sirius is alive, and so is Tonks but Lupin isn’t. Fred is still dead but you’ll be hearing from him sooner than you think. I honestly don’t know how many throwbacks will come up? I’m sure you’ll notice them when they do._ **

**_Ok so in terms of Professors, I’ll list them so you -and I- don’t get mixed up._ **

**_Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall_ **

**_Potions: Nymphadora Tonks (Hufflepuff Head)_ **

**_Herbology: Neville Longbottom (Gryffindor Head)_ **

**_DADA: Harry Potter (also teaches Quidditch)_ **

**_Transfiguration: Percy Weasley_ **

**_Charms: Flitwick (Ravenclaw Head)_ **

**_Care of Magical Creatures: Rubeus Hagrid (newly graduated having been cleared from all his charges)_ **

**_Divination: Firenze_ **

**_History of Magic: Alayah Hawthorn, Ravenclaw TA who teaches it with Harry Potter sometimes coming in. Professor Binns still comes in and goes up and down the isles answering questions, the ghost seems much happier._ **

**_[Less important??]_ **

**_Muggle Studies: (OC Primary School Muggle Teacher Hermione’s cousin) Professor Dylan Granger and Isla Black_ **

**_Ancient Runes: (OC Ghost) Connor O’Sullivan_ **

**_Wandlore/Alchemy: Olivander_ **

**_Arithmancy: Isla Black (Slytherin Head), also established with Dylan Granger a way through which students who also want to continue a muggle education can in the room of requirement._ **

**_Astronomy: Luna Lovegood_ **

****

**_pls enjoy reading my friends!_ **


	2. Is it still... the bad house?

She walked up the steps, a sea of fearful and awe struck faces surrounding her in the dim light.

“How do they decide which house to put people in?” Next to her, the girl she’d met on the train put a hand to her chin. The ribbons in her hair caught the candlelight in an odd way, she couldn’t help but notice. She was talkative, pretty, with a scar on her chin that wound down her neck into her slightly crooked shirt.

“I’m not sure.” Tall, the girl could easily see over the heads of all the 11-year-olds in the room, “I told you. I’m Muggleborn.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” She had a slight lilt to her voice that indicated an American accent, “Mom and Dad say that they were lined up and judged by Ghosts.”

She swallowed, “ _Ghosts_?” Her voice took on a slightly higher pitch, “ _What_ kind of school _is_ this?”

The other girl pat her on the shoulder, “Eh you’ll be fine, they’re a normal part of life.”

“How can they be part of life? They’re _dead_.” Her head perked up as the door in front of the gaggle of students opened and woman popped her head through. She had a charmingly crooked smile complete with a chipped tooth, and the frizzy pink hair completed the idea that this was really the last person she expected. Her eyes were wide and friendly.

The woman smiled, coming all the way into the room, “Evening all of you. So, first let me say welcome to Hogwarts! So nice to see some more happy faces here.” There were none, all the kids were too nervous to be considered happy, “I’m Professor Tonks, Potions Master and Head of Hufflepuff house. That is only one of the four houses that you will be sorted into whilst here. The other three are Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor.”

The girl worried at her lip, the girl next to her had told her all about the houses, more than she’d read briefly on in the History of Magic textbook. She’d be happy being a Hufflepuff, they seemed nice and she’d always looked okay in yellow. Besides, there was a fat chance she’d be placed anywhere else. Brave? She couldn’t sleep without her stuffed horse. Smart? She didn’t even know. What was the prerequisite for being Slytherin anyway? Whatever it was being Muggleborn eliminated that one.

“Don’t be nervous,” Professor Tonks smiled warmly, looking out at the crowd, “You’ll be fine, and besides there’s the feast to look forward to. Always spectacular.” She opened the doors behind her and stepped aside, “Follow me please. Good luck!”

“I’m Shae by the way.” The girl next to her wrung her hands, “I’m so nervous. Do you mind?” Shae grabbed her hand, squeezing hard.

“Catarina -or Rinna.” She whispered back as they entered the hall.

The ceiling was lit up light the night sky, and Rinna couldn’t stop staring it. She loved the stars, still kind of wanted to be an astronaut when she was big. Wait, would magic work in space? Her attention faded out for a few minutes as she pondered over that. She tuned in as a tall man with glasses and messy hair brought out a stool with an old hat placed on it.

The first years around her broke into whispers as the man winked before going to sit down at the table across from them with all the Professors.

“Is that-”

“Harry Potter?”

“He’s a _professor_?”

Glancing at Shae, Rinna noticed her nodding with an impressed look and looked back at the Professor as he sat next to a dreamy-eyed blonde woman. Before she could ask Shae who Harry Potter was, the hat on the stool came to life and of all the things launched into a bright a lively tune.

“ _We’re back again for another year,_

_With fresh new faces young and clear._

_I am the Sorting Hat, you see_

_You won’t find any more reliable than me._

_Wherever you belong;_

_be it Gryffindor of the brave and strong,_

_or perhaps Ravenclaw, with the smart and quick._

_Slytherin’s are ambitious and clever, they don’t miss a trick._

_Or lastly Hufflepuff, where you’ll always find a loyal friend._

_I was sewn to think and choose,_

_Do not be afraid, and you can’t lose!_

_So try me on, and let me see,_

_What kind of person you can be.”_

The whole hall clapped and cheered for the hat as Rinna stood gob-smacked, did everyone think this was _normal_? The Hat had just sung a whole rhyming song and everyone was applauding like that’s a normal reaction? Did hats in the Wizarding World normally do that?

Tonks laughed and silenced the hall, “Okay people, when I call your name just come up here and sit down, I’ll put the hat on you and it will sort you. Don’t worry, no one will hear what it says excepting the house name.”

As she began to call out people’s names, Shae squeezed Rinna’s hand and leaned over to whisper in her ear, “If we both get put in separate houses, we’re still gonna be friends right?”

Rinna nodded eagerly, relieved that she’d at least made one friend who knew what was what in this school of craziness.

“Shae Greyback!”

Suddenly the whispers broke out throughout the whole hall, Rinna -suddenly growing even more confused- heard the words ‘Werewolf’ and ‘Greyback’ and nothing more before Shae squeezed her hand again and walked confidently up to the stool. She seemed so sure of herself, Rinna decided she wanted to be more like her new friend.

The Sorting Hat thought for a bit, and drooped over Shae’s eyes for a moment before it shouted out for the whole hall to hear, “GRYFFINDOR!”

The table stomped their feet and clapped in celebration for their new member, but there were still whispers going around the hall as they watched Shae skip down to join her new house. They were all proudly wearing red on their sleeves, patting the girl on the back.

More people were called and sorted before it was Rinna’s turn, “McGreggor, Catarina!”

Rinna gnawed on her lip, and forced her feet to walk as confidently as Shae. Tonks offered her a smile as she sat down, which she returned hesitantly before the Hat was placed on her head. She tilted her chin up and stewed as she waited for it to come alive.

“ _Hmmm… interesting, there’s plenty of smarts here -very tempting to put you in Ravenclaw-”_

Rinna was too shell-shocked to reply. Sure, the Hat could see into her brain, why not?

“ _Ah but there it is, a driven mind. Desire to win. To succeed. Let us go with-_ SLYTHERIN!”

Rinna started but jumped into action anyway, taking off the hat and putting it back on the seat amid the cheers coming from the table with green on their sleeves and mischief in their hearts. Her hands were cold and shaking as she walked over to her new house, suddenly she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be a witch.

Of course she’d done her research, Slytherin was basically taboo for a long time. Was she evil to be put there? Were people going to judge her? Would they even welcome her considering she was Muggleborn, weren’t they all about pure blood? Surely the Hat had made some kind of mistake.

She slumped down dumb-founded and scared next to a wild-eyed boy with acorn coloured skin and clothes too big for him. He seemed just as nervous as she, but he leaned towards her slightly and said, “Your name is… Catarina?”

“Rinna.” She corrected eyes flicking down to him, she had always been tall and this boy was simply miniscule in comparison, “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Jai Patil-Fawcett. I guess neither of us wanted to be in Slytherin, huh?” He craned his neck to and fro, trying to see whether Slytherin house were as bad as their rep.

“This is our lot now, I guess.” She shook her head, looking back up to watch the rest of their year be sorted. “I thought I’d be Hufflepuff.”

“My mothers were both Gryffindor.” He replied, “No telling how they’re going to react when I write home.”

“My parents won’t even know what Slytherin _means_ ,” Rinna idly commented, “You’re one step up from me.”

“Wait, you’re… Muggleborn?”

“Yep.” She tuned out of the conversation to let him absorb the information, and caught Shae’s eyes across the room. The girl with silver ribbons in her blonde hair offered her a friendly smile and a thumbs up from across the room, and suddenly Rinna felt a smidgen of confidence. Maybe Hogwarts wouldn’t be so bad?

By the end of the sorting, Jai and Rinna had been joined by seven other first years, four boys and three girls. They were a diverse lot, all in varying stages of fear from being sorted into the ‘dread’ house. Rinna determined throughout the course of the meal that she was by far the tallest, and also the only Muggleborn in the group.

Diagonally across from her was a girl with blonde hair and a badge that said ‘Quidditch Captain,’ her face was made up perfectly and her smile charmed everyone within a five-foot radius. People kept talking to her, asking about tryouts or how her holidays had been.

In a lull between conversations, the girl turned to Rinna and smiled warmly, and suddenly Rinna forgot what she was thinking.

“I’m Victoire Weasley, Quidditch Captain of Slytherin. I’m sure you’ve got loads of questions.”

Rinna nodded slightly, ignoring the casual use of an obviously made up word ‘Quidditch’. “Um, yeah.” She had to clear her throat and blink so as to remember her voice, “Kind of.”

“Lay them on me.”

“Well… is Slytherin still… the bad house?” She whispered.

Victoire Weasley offered her a humour-filled grin, “I won’t lie to you kid, there are a lot of people who consider us to be the bad seeds but-” She looked around before leaning in, “Every house has its bad seeds. Slytherin just cop a lot of the flack.”

She thought for a moment, “Am I even allowed to be here?”

Victoire eyed her in confusion, “Why wouldn’t you be?”

“I’m a Muggleborn. I thought- Slytherin doesn't want Muggleborns. Does that mean I’ll have to be moved?” Rinna didn’t want to move, she thought Jai was funny and she liked the colour green.

Victoire reached across the table and patted Rinna’s hand, “Aw kid it’s okay. Slytherin will always welcome true witches and wizards. Be it Muggleborn or not.” She pointed down the table, “See him? That’s our Prefect Jacob, his mother is Muggleborn and his father is a muggle. You think he looks out of place?”

Rinna slowly shook her head while Victoire continued, “How ‘bout the Head Girl?” She pointed to a tiny Asian girl sitting up the front of the table eating dessert. She was quiet, a book placed next to her bowl on the table. “Joanna Wu, Muggleborn but you see her not fitting in? No! She’s Head Girl _and_ she’s Slytherin. No doubt, there are some people who’d say we haven’t changed. But I think you’ll find us more accepting than you originally expect.”

Victoire withdrew her hand, “Now, do you want me to fill you in on the teachers?”

Rinna nodded eagerly, wanting to know as much as possible about the community she’d be joining for the next seven years of her life.

A few hours later, as the Prefects (Daphne Jones and Jacob Pruitt) led them away from the hall towards the Common Rooms, Rinna was exhausted but still bursting with confused questions. She held her timetable in both hands, eye twitching and lip caught in her teeth, “Jai, where are all the _normal_ classes?”

“Huh?” He yawned next to her, barely awake.

“Where’s the math? Science? How are we supposed to do anything off this stuff?” She demanded, “There’s not even a simple English class! I thought this was a _school_?” Rinna immediately began mentally composing a letter demanding her parents sign her up for homeschooling, and mail her through the extra work. She really wanted to be a witch, but now she was getting increasingly worried that it would lead to her being useless in the normal (Muggle) world.

“Wait. Is there even working internet here?!” It dawned on her suddenly, how was she supposed to keep up with her favourite reality shows? Talk to her family? Had she brought her laptop for _nothing_?

“Wait, no I’ll get this one. Internet is like the mail right? Or like… just a huge book?” Jemima Wood was pureblood Slytherin, and fascinated with Rinna and her talk of Muggles. She hadn’t even known what a mobile phone was, and Rinna found she couldn’t explain it to her.

 _Stuff it_ , she thought resolutely, if she was going to stay here and be a witch, she was going to drag them all kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. Starting with working Internet.

Rinna was momentarily distracted by the Prefects stopping at a stone wall that seemingly was like the others but at a second glance a huge snake was carved into the stone. Shouting so everyone could hear, “Okay this is the Slytherin common room. I know we’re in the dungeons, but trust me it’s way better down here than it is having to climb those stairs at least twice a day.”

“What stairs?” Rinna demanded of Jemima.

“They move randomly.”

“ _Fantastic_ ,” She drawled, just adding another thing to the huge list of things that could possibly kill her in this death-trap castle.

“So you just say the password and the door will be revealed.” Jacob gestured for Daphne to take the lead, stepping back as she turned to the door.

“ _Anubis_ ,” She told the wall, and it suddenly started moving aside revealing a narrow passageway wide enough for one person at a time.

The first years started to crowd into the room, and Rinna -who had been thinking she couldn’t be anymore shocked at this point- gazed around in awe for the fourth time that night.

It was a long room, the stone walls had long green velvet curtains hanging from the ceiling, there were three fireplaces, one at the far end and two on each side, with black leather couches dotted around them. There were books everywhere, posters stuck to the walls and adding more colour to the room instead of dreary grey stone, and next to a door was -randomly- a glass cage with a small snake inside curled up and loving life. It was surprisingly warm in there considering it was the dungeons. The couches looked extremely comfortable and Rinna longed to curl up next to the fire and fall asleep.

Daphne indicated the doors to the right of the entrance, “Girl's dorms and bathrooms are through these two doors, and boys on the opposite side. Rules are: no boys allowed in the girls’ rooms or bathrooms and vice versa, no sneaking out at night, and don’t go into the Forbidden Forest for your own health.” Daphne nodded as if this were enough information.

“Um…” Rinna stopped the question but couldn’t help looking around to see everyone else's reaction and all she saw was acceptance. _What is with these people?_

“Classes start the day after tomorrow, so I suggest you get the lay of the land in time for them to start. Any issues or questions feel free to ask, have a good night guys!” Jacob grinned, and dismissed them.

“I’ll see you guys for breakfast tomorrow?” Jai tugged on Rinna’s sleeve, and she nodded at him.

“Let’s just get some sleep, yeah?” Jemima yawned, “I don’t think I could eat another thing.”

Rinna quietly agreed and followed the other girls through the doors to find their room. It was a wide corridor, with a glass floor that overlooked into the blue waters underneath. There were seven doors each with numbers on them corresponding to which year was in which. The number One engraved on the door closest to them.

“Oh my-” Rinna gasped as she saw a small fish swim under her feet. Jemima pulled her along before she could get more distracted.

Unfortunately, the glass floor didn’t extend to their room, which was surprisingly big considering they were in the dungeons. At this point Rinna was willing to consider that the layout of the castle had been messed around through magic and was just going to roll with it.

There were four huge beds set up for them all in the half-circle room, each with a bedside table next to them, and a chest at the foot to store everything. There was space at each end carved out of the top and bottom of the beds to allow for shelving. There was a heater in the center of the room reaching to the roof with hip-height cupboards facing each bed. A continuous window wrapped around the top of the room and Rinna could hear the comforting sound of rushing water distantly. There were two armchairs placed on either side of the door.

Rinna’s suitcase and bags had been placed on the bed closest to the right side of the door, next to Jemima’s. So she went to sit down, exhausted and ready to collapse into a dead sleep.

Jemima immediately began to unpack, checking the cupboards to find more blankets and pillows. Making sure to evenly distribute the extra goods.

“So can we go over names? And where people are from?” Jemima said as she whizzed around the room, she grinned at Rinna, “I already know you’re Rinna. Muggleborn from London.”

Rinna rolled her eyes, she had grabbed the rest of the school-uniform as soon as possible and was running through how to do up the tie. “Yes I’m Catarina McGreggor, but call me Rinna. Yes, I’m from London.”

One of the other girls smiled, she had mousey features and red hair, she was tucked in bed watching the other two with tired eyes, “Dalia Hawtholos. My Dad’s muggle and Mum's a Witch, Liverpool.”

The last girl in their dorm was tiny, and struggling to pick up her trunk so she could get into bed, she had gold hair and freckles all over, “Lila-Mai Arnold. Manchester, and I don’t know at this point, it’s not that important who’s who is it? We’re all people.”

Rinna wholeheartedly agreed, “Nice to meet you all.” She said, having given up on the tie she quickly changed into her pajamas and dove under the covers. It was getting increasingly cold in there as the night wore on, and she was suddenly thankful for the extra blankets.

“Nunight.” Jemima brightly told everyone as she crawled into bed as well.

There was only a series of groans in reply to her chipper tone, and Lila jumped out of bed to dim the light.

Rinna hugged her stuffed horse tighter, too tired to even consider missing her parents, she fell into a comforted sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day at breakfast, Rinna grilled Jemima on how to send mail in the Wizarding World. She wanted to ask her parents to send her the cheapest internet router they could get.

Her voice took on a higher pitch, “ _OWLS_?!”

Jai laughed into his scrambled eggs, “Yeah? Why how do muggles do it?”

Rinna blinked, “People on motorbikes come around and deliver letters and parcels. Or you know, we use email or text message it’s way easier.”

“Um…” Jemima looked around, “Is anyone gonna say it?”

Lila reached around Jai to pat her on the shoulder, “Don’t worry Rinna, I know what you’re talking about.”

“ _Thank_ you!” Rinna pushed her breakfast away, reached into her bag for a notebook and pen. “Okay, I need to borrow someone’s owl. I have to write to my parents immediately -I’m on a mission to modernize.”

Jemima, whose face was suddenly extremely close to Rinna’s hand as she wrote with the pen, “You can borrow Mrs. Noodle if you want, I’ll take you to the Owlery -what is that?”

“You don’t know what a pen is!?” Rinna threw her hands up in exasperation, “I give up, you wizards are insane! How do you function!”

“Umm…”

“Just go with it.” Lila commented into one of her textbooks.

“And you’re all acting like _I’m_ the weird one. Honestly.” Rinna grabbed her bag and an extra piece of toast before storming out of the Great Hall away from all the weird wizards with their barbaric customs and backwards way of doing things.

In her anger, she nearly missed Shae standing outside the Great Hall, looking almost as annoyed as her. She was standing by herself across from two other girls in Gryffindor robes, her bag on the floor between them.

Rinna wandered closer, “Hi Shae-”

“Oh it’s the Slytherin she wouldn’t shut up about.” One of them looked down her nose at Rinna, an impressive thing considering she was about half a foot shorter than her. The girl had huge glasses and her tie was tied perfectly.

Shae reached down and picked her bag up, “I only mentioned her once! What’s wrong with being friends with Slytherins?”

Rinna made a face, not saying anything yet.

The other girl eyed her, her expression was completely innocuous but her eyes gleamed with judgment, “Greyback, of course you’d say that. You belong with them not with Gryffindor. As if you could be brave.”

Shae still looked infuriated, but her chin wobbled and her fists clenched to ward it off, “I didn’t ask for this- I belong in Gryffindor! The Sorting Hat chose _me_.”

“Ha! As if.”

Rinna couldn’t take it anymore, she put her hand on Shae’s wrist to stop her from punching them both and tilted her head at the two weasels before them, “It’s a wonder that the Sorting Hat would place either of you in Gryffindor, I heard that cowards bully others to make themselves feel big.”

Neither of the stupid girls knew what to say to that, so they just stormed away in a huff. Rinna let go of Shae’s hand and turned to face her friend, searching her face to see if she was alright.

Shae offered her a watery smile, “Thanks, Cat. You’re a real pal.”

Rinna nearly laughed at the nickname, “It was always just Rinna, but I like Cat.”

“It’s settled then,” Shae shook her head and rubbed at her eyes, then threw an arm around Rinna’s shoulders, or rather tried to but she wasn’t tall enough, “Jeez lady you’re giant.”

Rinna grinned, and instead put her arm around Shae, “Ever think that you’re just little?”

“Excuse you, I am normal sized.” She started walking after grinning up at Rinna.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Rinna was extremely lost, and they had the day off so she thought they should figure out where their classes were.

“I got absolutely no idea.” She declared happily, they were headed outside towards a bright and sunny day.

“That’s helpful.”

“Ah so she has some extra sass in there good to know.”

They were silent as they headed around the side towards the lake, until Rinna excitedly launched into the details of the Slytherin Common room, “The dorm was literally under water, I could see fish out the windows!”

“That’s awesome, Gryffindor’s at the top of the stairs. It’s a death trap, I nearly fell like four times just on the way to breakfast this morning.”

Another silence as Rinna shrugged off her itchy robe and undid her tie before collapsing on the grass. It was warming up outside, the sun shining down over a clear blue sky. Shae looked down at her with an amused expression, she had new ribbons braided into her light hair today, and in the light of the sun Rinna could see shades of copper in the mess of curls. Eventually she sat down, holding her red sleeved robe in her hands, worrying at the fabric.

“I… honestly thought I’d be Slytherin.” Shae said, “The Greyback family are a bit… divided. My Dad’s brother was Fenrir Greyback, he was sort of… infamous during the war.”

“The uh… the war with uhm… Voldemort?” Rinna had skimmed over Hogwarts a History, it mentioned the first war with Voldemort in not much detail, she had to purchase a whole new set of History texts of both old a recent. She’d been caught up in the Witch Trials, and how they let innocent Muggles suffer and be burnt alive without the safety-net of magic to save them. How Salazar Slytherin built secret passageways throughout Hogwarts castle that were only accessible if you were a snake which was useless.

The first war with Voldemort scared her, the second one was even worse. She hadn’t been able to stop reading, staying up late into the night, taking page after page of notes, it was like a fantasy story it couldn’t possibly be real.

In one of the chapters of _‘Overcoming the Dark; A Complete Recent_ _History’_ by Hermione Granger, it had detailed the major players in Voldemort’s inner circle. Fenrir Greyback basically the worst of the worst, often used as a weapon against major enemies of the Dark. It was speculated that Draco Malfoy had been bitten by the man, but never confirmed.

“Yeah, you know this I can tell.” Shae bitterly threw a rock into the lake, “My Dad isn’t a werewolf, he left the family before anything like that could happen but…” Shae looked at Rinna in the eyes, the scar on her chin suddenly standing out far more than it had yesterday, “Things happen, and now I like my steak rarer than I did before.” With a shrug she threw another rock into the water.

“Wait so… you’re a-”

“No I’m not but… nearly.”

“Why are you telling me this? Do I look that trustworthy?”

She glanced back at Rinna, “Why not? Are you gonna tell anyone?”

“No, I swear.”

“Exactly. You’re a friend, already. I trust you.”

Rinna wasn’t a hugger, so she just beamed a true smile at Shae, who suddenly appeared much better than she did before. And looking much like she wanted to change the subject.

“So I met the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, she told me about all the Professors here, who to watch out for and everything.”

“Yeah? That’s cool. Hit me with it.”

“Okay so we met Tonks last night, she’s head of Hufflepuff but doesn’t really show favoritism. She used to be an Auror, and has a son, Teddy Lupin.” Rinna grinned at Shae, “His Dad was Remus Lupin, a werewolf who died in the Battle of Hogwarts, you’re not alone.” Then moved on at the small private smile she got back in return, “ _The_ Harry Potter is our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, which is going to be cool-”

“There you are! We thought you went back to the Common Room.” Jai appeared over the hill, having ditched his cloak somewhere his uniform hung too big for him, dragging Lila behind him. They stopped in front of the pair and dropped down on the ground in front of them, “Jemima feels really bad for making you feel so-”

“Stupid?” Rinna withheld a grin, “Ever think that wizards are the ones who’ve got it backward?” Before they could reply she shook her head, “I’m not offended, Jemima shouldn’t worry. This is Shae by the way. I met her on the train yesterday.”

“Cool, I’m Lila-Mai, just call me Lila though.” Lila kicked her feet up and leaned back on her hands.

Jai waved with a crooked grin, “Jai.”

Shae offered the two Slytherins a relieved grin, “Nice to meet you.”

“I was just telling Shae about the Professors, I got details from Victoire Weasley. Want to hear?”

At their assenting noises, she launched back into it, “So, the Transfiguration teacher is Professor Percy Weasley he’s really strict with rules, so no bending them. Charms is taught by a guy named Flitwick who’s really old and the Head of Ravenclaw. History of Magic is taught by a Ravenclaw student who got sick of listening to the old teacher drone on –he’s a ghost who left no room for anyone who was actually interested in the class so she took over. Herbology is Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor.”

“Oh I met him last night, he came to introduce himself and wish everyone good luck. He seemed like a chill kind of guy.” Shae said, tugging at her tie.

“Yes, Victoire said everyone loves his class.”

“Who’s the head of Slytherin?” Jai chimed in, “None of the Professors you just mentioned were Slytherins.”

“Professor Isla Black, she was a Slytherin back in the day. She teaches Arithmancy and Muggle Studies to third years and up. Basically fills in when other Professors are sick. I don’t know much about her.”

“Black is a famous pure blood family, the only last two surviving members are Isla and Sirius Black.” Jai chirped as if straight from the textbook.

“Guys, I’m literally burning alive out here.” Lila jumped up from the ground, shielding herself from the sun, “Can we go back inside please? Maybe figure out where our classes are gonna be?”

Shae eagerly nodded, “My timetable says I have Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions with you guys so at least I’ll have friends.”

“And we know Potions is taught in the Dungeons near our common room.”

“And Defense Against the Dark Arts is on the fourth floor. Charms is in one of the towers? Herbology is in the Greenhouses, where’s History of Magic?” Jai said, his nose buried in the timetable.

“Why don’t we go look?” Rinna suggested, throwing the loose tie around her neck and stuffing the robe into her bag.

The group ventured back up towards the castle, trying to figure out where they were supposed to go. It was at this point that Rinna was first confronted with the moving staircase, and almost noped out of the whole thing then and there.

“You have to climb this? _Every_ _day_?” She squeaked to Shae, who at that point was holding onto her arm for dear life lest either of them fall.

“Tragic isn’t it?”

It was on the Seventh floor that they really got lost, the twists and turns of the corridors tricking them at every turn. At one point they thought thought they saw the staircases but it was only a wall tricking them into thinking that and Lila walked directly into it.

“I give up, we missed lunch and we have to face that we’re not going to find our way back.” Jai shrugged, “So long delicious buffet dinners-”

“You’re so dramatic, relax. I’m sure if we just retrace our steps we’ll find our way back to the stairs.” Lila went to turn around, but was stopped by Rinna tugging on her sleeve.

“We can just ask for directions from that guy.” She pointed up ahead of them to a boy almost as tall as Rinna, he was a skinny kid with yellow on his sleeve, tanned skin and an easy grin.

“Hey! You!” Shae waved him over, and the four of them ran up to the Hufflepuff.

“Hi?” He said, “You guys are lost too?”

Lila’s face drooped and she scowled, “Urgh so you can’t help?”

“Hey the more the merrier right?” He grinned, “I’m Darius O’Lachlan, the guys in my dorm said they were going to practice their dueling so I went to find them and got lost along the way.” He made a face, “Or they just tricked me, people do that.”

“People suck.” Shae agreed, patting him on the shoulder, “We got your back Darius. I’m Shae, this is Rinna, Jai, and Lila.” Everyone waved or grinned when she said their respective names, “Let’s get out of here.”

It still took them the better part of an hour to find their way back to the stairs. And even then it was a tricky navigation to get back down to the main floor in time for dinner, which was served promptly at six.

When they got there, they noticed all the houses mingling with everyone sitting at anyone’s table there were no set places. So they all sat down in the corner to their right.

“Thank God, we made it.” Jai sank down on the bench, extremely relieved that they had finally made it back to safety in one piece.

Jemima skipped up to them five minutes later, an apologetic grin on her face as she sat down next to Rinna, “Hey, I’m sorry about before.”

“Apology accepted,” Rinna smiled at her, “Maybe we both need to try explaining stuff to each other.”

“Done. Hey, where were you guys I’ve been looking all over.”

“We got lost,” Jai scratched the back of his neck, “It was stressful.”

Shae rolled her eyes, “I assume this is Jemima?”

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” Jemima narrowed her eyes in Shae’s direction, almost suspiciously observing her scar and robes.

Shae looked amused, “Oh, nothing. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Shae.”

“Greyback, yeah I know who you are.” Caught in between the two of them, Rinna’s eyes were wide as she leant back as if to watch a game of tennis. She caught Darius’ eyes across the table, who only seemed amused.

“I’m Darius if anyone wants to know,” He laughed, reaching for the soup ladle, “Can we move on? I’m starved.”


	4. Class on fastforward

During dinner, Rinna pulled out her notebook and a pen again, to try and attempt this letter. With Jemima watching her write with rapt attention, she ate a sausage roll with one hand and wrote with the other.

‘ _Dear Mum and Dad,_

_Okay first thing, I’m sorry this came through an Owl? That’s apparently how people communicate in the Wizarding World, through carrier pigeon. I’ve been told you need to put a reply in the tube before the owl can leave.’_

“Ah that’s important, they won’t know to do that,” Shae said, sipping her soup, “Better in the long run.”

“Your handwriting is really neat by the way, is it the pen making it that way?”

‘ _Things are… odd here, guys. I’ve been sorted into Slytherin, one of the houses I told you about, and I’ve made some friends.’_ Which Rinna decided she would draw later, if she couldn’t use her laptop or her phone, she’d have to resort to different methods to show them pictures. ‘ _I can’t tell if it’s a good or bad thing that I’m here, classes start tomorrow so I guess we’ll find out._

_‘I would’ve put this all in an email or called you but apparently there’s no reception or internet here but don’t worry. I’m on a mission to modernize these old timers, I’ve accepted the challenge and first I’m going to fix the internet problem with this giant castle. If you can, please can you get the cheapest internet router you can find and send it through? I want to be able to send you emails or Skype while I’m here. I miss you like crazy already._

_Also, if possible is there a way to do normal school work while I’m here? I want to do this whole witch thing but there’s no Math or Science or anything that could be useful outside the Wizarding World in the classes.’_

“Why is math so important to you, math is terrible.” Jemima commented around a mouthful of pudding.

Rinna resolutely continued writing, tuning out all the chatter and concentrating on keeping her handwriting neat, ‘ _I think I’m going to be happy, once I get the hang of it. A lot of things keep surprising me, my dorm is literally under water for one thing. And there are staircases that move. _

_‘I miss you and everyone else like crazy, and I really hope to get this internet thing going as soon as possible so I can see your silly faces. As it is, I drew you some pictures so you can see what I’m up against here. Love you to the moon and back, hope to hear from you soon, Rinna._

_P.S. The carrier pigeon’s name is Mrs Noodle and she likes to eat peanut butter.’_

“Now all that’s left is to take you to the Owlery tomorrow and send the letter off. Hopefully you’ll get a reply within the week.” Jemima declared happily, pushing away the remainder of her pudding.

Rinna’s eye twitched and Shae laughed next to her, “I’m glad you all enjoy my pain.”

“It’s funny though.” Lila said, cheekily grinning at her from across the table.

Rinna let it go, shaking her head and finishing off the dessert in front of her, “Tomorrow is definitely going to be interesting.”

Later that night, the mood in the Slytherin dorm grew increasingly twitchy. All of them getting more and more nervous as the time ticked on.

Rinna had unpacked and made sure everything was in order before putting on her pajamas, even laying out the uniform and packing her bag for the classes she had. In the shelving behind her head on the bed she had her wand, pencil case, a handful of assorted books, her laptop and phone which were quickly losing charge with nowhere to plug them in in the stupid castle.

Instead she got her pencils out and began to draw in one of her sketchbooks, the faces of her new friends with names underneath. She took extra care with Shae’s scar, making sure to colour the ribbons in her hair differently. She even included Darius. Then on another page she drew the Slytherin Common Room, and their dorm. Adding blue to the glass around the edge of the room.

Then on the next one The Great Hall, another one the view of the moving stairs. The lake outside. She drew and drew until she ran out of ideas, and her nerves were no longer on edge. She was able to fall asleep soundly, ready to face the day ahead.

 

After heading to the Owlery, they stopped by the Great Hall for breakfast quickly, picking up the others on the way to Transfiguration.

Classes progressed too quickly for Rinna, who wanted to know literally everything she could about the Wizarding World. She especially was enthralled by the Potions class, which Professor Tonks taught with a friendly atmosphere in the cold Dungeons. They got to the second last class of the day, a subject Rinna was particularly interested in, History of Magic.

She was sat down next to Lila, they had this class with the Hufflepuffs so Darius, Jai and Jemima were at the desks next to them. Out the front of the class was a tall girl, skin a deep umber colour with a long neck and corkscrew hair fanning up and out in a halo around her face. She had blue on her sleeve and a gold nose piercing that gleamed in the light of the sun streaming in through the windows.

In the corner, a pale visage of an old man sat down on a worn arm chair engrossed in a book. Rinna was extremely creeped out to discover that this was the ghost that used to teach this subject, Professor Binns.

The Ravenclaw student up the front made herself comfortable on the desk, the sunlight behind her gave her silhouette an ethereal quality that Rinna couldn’t help but stare at in awe. “So, first years. I’m Alaya Vivaun, sixth year Ravenclaw and current teacher of History of Magic. Welcome.” She nodded at all the students around, “For those of you who are confused, recently it was decided that this subject could use a bit of a revamp, considering that Professor Binns here-” She gestured to the ghost in the arm chair, “Didn’t really teach, more that he just talked. His classes were the same every year.”

She pushed away from the desk, “So, I’m going to make this better. We’ll start with how this is gonna go.”

Rinna listened with complete wonderment as Alaya described the subject over the course of the year, and what was expected of them. She dazed out a few times when the sunlight caught Alaya’s skin and she couldn’t stop staring but she tuned back in in time to take some more notes.

With all the notes she was taking, she’d run out of paper and have to use parchment instead. It was bad enough that she had to write essays on the unlined stuff, but notes that weren’t neat she couldn’t handle. Wizards were impractical in her book, Muggles had a few things down the better way.  

Education was one of them, even if Wizard education was so much more interesting and _fun_.

At dinner that night, Shae plopped down next to her as Rinna drew Alaya’s profile in one of her sketchbooks, “So, Defence Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, excited?”

“More nervous. What if he asks us to fight?”

“Ha! He won’t, trust me. None of us even know how to use our wands yet.”

“Speak for yourself.” Rinna pulled out her wand and whispered, “ _Lumos_!” A small light appeared at the end of it, illuminating her drawing, “ _Nox_.”

Jemima clapped, and Jai nodded extremely impressed.

Shae laughed, “Nerd. You totally read ahead in the Charms textbook didn’t you?”

“As if you didn’t.” Lila sat down across from them, slamming aforementioned textbook on the table, “It’s a matter of actually wanting to learn. And get it right so we’re not accidentally cursing people.”

“Aw so little Greyback has actually found some more snake friends, how adorable.” Chimed a voice from behind them. Rinna and Shae turned around to find the two pesky Gryffindors seated at the table behind theirs, and they’d acquired a Ravenclaw student as part of their little-witch act.

Jemima snorted, “Who even are you?”

The girl with the impeccably neat robes tilted her head up arrogantly, “I’m Matilda, this is Louise and Blair.”

“Yeah none of us are going to remember that.” Darius muttered into a spoonful of soup, “Why don’t you lay off?”

“Aww, Greyback. Not brave enough to tell us off on your own? Have to get your Slytherin’s to help you?”

“Do you not use your eyes? I’m _Hufflepuff-_ ”

Shae was staring at the ground again, and Rinna could tell just through a glance that their words affected her more than she let on.

Rinna casually looked at them again, “Say one more bad thing about Shae. I dare you.” Her voice was even and calm, but her expression was stormy and her left hand was gripping her wand as if she was going to hex the lot of them. It was more likely that she’d poke eyes out, but she reveled in the thought.

Matilda’s face twisted, “Stupid mud-”

“What’s going on here?” A smooth voice interrupted whatever Matilda had been about to call Rinna, and suddenly Victoire Weasley appeared in the walkway, with Alaya Vivaun and a lithe boy with blue hair and yellow on his sleeve.

The three of them appeared like angels in Rinna’s eyes, and suddenly all became her heroes at the same time.

Jemima was the first to speak up, “These girls were about to call Rinna a bad word.”

“Tattle-tale.” Darius whispered to her out of the side of his mouth.

“Yeah?” The blue-haired Hufflepuff turned to them, “Guess what? Prefect. Ten points from Gryffindor for even thinking about that word. Go sit somewhere else.”

Matilda and her posse scurried off, defeated yet again.

Victoire sat down next to Rinna, who slammed her sketchbook shut lest any of them see what she’d been drawing, “Girls like that really annoy me.”

“C’mon, Vic. We were all like that.”

“Not me, if I was ever like that you’d have punched me.”

The blue-haired boy sat down next to Darius, and Alaya next to him and they all helped themselves to the food.

Shae was quiet, but she started to brighten up around the company, “So, you’re the Quidditch Captain of Slytherin right? How’s the competition looking this year?”

Victoire eyed Shae, impressed, “It’s fierce. I can put together a pretty good team but, we lost a lot of good players to graduation last year.”

“Gryffindor’s Captain is crazy, he’s already held the trials and everything.”

“Kingsley really wants to win,” The blue haired guy shook his head, “No room for anything else.” He looked around the table, “I’m Teddy by the way, sound off names so I’m not calling everyone ‘you’?”

Everyone introduced themselves and names were swapped around the table, Darius seemed to be in awe of Teddy. Looking up to him with the same hero worship that Rinna did before.

Shae was quiet when he asked her name, and Rinna grasped her hand under the table trying to instil in her some of the confidence she’d had before. Shae brushed a hand over her scar as she eyed Teddy’s hands, which were covered in old scars and scratch marks, and they made solid eye contact for a few seconds before breaking it.

“I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow?” Shae said once they were alone, everyone was leaving to go to bed. First day of classes were exhausting.

Rinna’s brow creased in worry, “Are you sure you’re okay sharing with those witches?”

Shae offered her a sad smile, “It’s cute of you to worry, but I’ll sleep downstairs. Or in the boys dorm they have an extra bed.”

Rinna was momentarily distracted, “You can sleep in the boys dorm?”

“Well it’s not _technically_ allowed, but girls can go in there no problem. It’s boys that can’t go in the girls. Test it out, it’s quite funny to watch what happens.” Shae’s laughter turned sad again while she thought about it, “They’re only two out of five girls in the Gryffindor dorm. I’m bound to make at least one friend in there. It’s statistics.”

“Well, don’t go making another best friend.” Rinna bumped her shoulder, “Don’t know where I’ll get another one of your caliber.”

“Oh, fancy word.” Shae smiled genuinely at her though, and before Rinna could react she pulled her into a hug, whispering in her ear, “I’ll be fine. See you tomorrow!” Before dashing up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.


End file.
